Drought keeps metro water engineers' phones ringing
Despite monsoon failure in 2016 steady supply of around 700 MLD was maintained throughout the year.
Chennai: The unprecedented drought in capital Chennai has made Chennai metro water area engineers as the most sought-after officials in the city. With the private borewells also drying up the demand for water for apartments and gated communities has shot up.
“Every day an engineer gets 10 to 15 recommendation phone calls from VIPs seeking water supply through tankers. The list of VIPs includes MLAs, hospital administrators, bureaucrats and former councillors,” admit informed sources with Chennai metro water.
“Per day around 7,000 water trips are provided by metro water through tankers, but the demand is still higher. Of this, 40 per cent is a priority where the water has to reach the slum areas and congested pockets on a daily or alternate basis. Another 40 per cent is diverted to government hospitals, government establishments and for residents who have booked seeking supply. The metro water board finally has less than 20 per cent of tanker supply under its control and this has to be diverted or prioritised as per the recommendation calls”, rued a senior metro water official.
When an elected MLA calls and complains that there is tension among public due to deficit water supply, we are obviously under pressure and some residents keep on calling us throughout the day to know the status of their booked tankers, admitted another depot engineer adding that the entire metro water board is stressed and praying for heavy rains.
According to Chennai metro water sources, the water supply to Chennai city should be around 830 MLD and this was attained during the December 2015 flash floods. Despite monsoon failure in 2016 steady supply of around 700 MLD was maintained throughout the year. And during January 2017, the supply was reduced to around 550 MLD due to depleting water storage levels in Chennai reservoirs.
This again, by March was further reduced to 470 MLD. Now with the metro water banning the supply of water to commercial establishments and gated communities, the demand for water has surged by several folds. The supply to private residential areas in north Chennai had also shot up since last month, sources confirmed.